Ancestry 2015Transparency Report

At Ancestry, we care about privacy. In that spirit, we are releasing our first transparency report, which covers law enforcement requests for member data. This report includes requests addressed to all Ancestry Sites. In 2015 only Ancestry.com and Archives.com received law enforcement requests.

Ancestry requires valid legal process in order to produce information about our members. We comply with legitimate requests in accordance with our Privacy Statements. All of the requests we received in 2015 were related to investigations involving credit card misuse and identity theft, and, where required by law, we provided responsive information to these requests. We received no requests for information related to the health or genetic information of any Ancestry member, and we did not disclose any such information to law enforcement.

Overview

Ancestry received 14 law enforcement requests for data about members in 2015.

Ancestry provided information in response to 13 of those 14 requests.

Historical Context

Ancestry did not receive any requests relating to the health or genetic information of any Ancestry member in 2015. In our history, we have received just one request relating to DNA information—a 2014 search warrant ordering us to provide the identity of a person based on a DNA sample that had previously been made public for which the police had a match. We disclosed information in response to that valid warrant.

National Security Requests

As of December 31, 2015, Ancestry has never received a classified request pursuant to the national security laws of the United States or any other country. In other words, Ancestry has not received a National Security Letter or a request under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.